The Lady from Shanghai: Orson Welles' Noir Masterpiece

Called "the weirdest great movie ever made," The Lady from Shanghai is enshrouded in legend, the most mysterious and radical of all of Hollywood's great noir films. Directed by Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), The Lady from Shanghai stars Welles and his then-wife, Rita Hayworth, each of them channeling the stress of their self-destructing marriage into performances that still quiver with exquisite tension. Welles plays "Black Irish," a penniless young man who takes a job aboard a yacht to get close to Mrs. Bannister (Hayworth), the ritzy woman he loves. Intrigue and evil complicate an entrancing plot that ends in the notorious Hall of Mirrors scene, a movie climax that has yet to be outdone. Surreal, technically sublime and unabashedly stylized, The Lady from Shanghai is presented by Northwest Film Center.

Reviews & Ratings

The story in The Lady from Shanghai has the prime elements of a film-noir: average-Joe lead, femme fatale, conspicuous supporting characters, and a comprehensible if somewhat convoluted plot structure. Orson Welles, mumbly Irish brogue aside, shows off his acting chops as the moral anchor to the story and Rita Hayworth is stunning as the unhappily married femme fatale. The behind the scenes dissolution of their marriage fully explains their complicated chemistry on screen.